Katy Bryan-Beachler Josh Mehler ENC3021-01 24 April 2013

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Rhetoric Peter Jackson is perhaps one of the most well-known and respected film directors, producers, and screenwriters of all time. His work with the production and direction of The Lord of the Rings films and their prequel, The Hobbit has earned innumerous praises from fans all over the world. There is no denying that he knows a little something about the world of rhetoric. He employs multiple concepts of rhetoric through the official trailers for the movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. These trailers are particularly effective through their use of Aristotles ethos, McLuhans idea of the medium as the message, and Burkes concept of identification. Through the trailers for the widely-anticipated film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, we can see these concepts in action and determine their effectiveness in advertising for the movie. Aristotles concept of ethos refers to the credibility of the rhetor as perceived by the audience. In his book, Rhetoric, he states that persuasion is achieved by the speakers personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible. We believe good men more fully and more readily than others: this is true generally whatever the question is, and absolutely true where exact certainty is impossible and opinions are divided. Aristotle believed that rhetoric was a means of persuasion, and that this credibility, this ethos, was a major factor in effectively persuading an audience. Essentially what this means is that of the three proofs- logos, pathos, and ethos-ethos is associated with the character of the

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rhetor. People are persuaded by people that they trust and are familiar with, even if their argument is not especially strong. However, conversely, if the argument is strong, but the reader does not trust the rhetor or does not like the rhetor, the appeal to logic (logos) by itself will seldom persuade. Therefore, it is crucial to consider ethos. The credibility of the author directly influences how the audience will react to the message, and thus be persuaded by it. This concept of ethos is directly related to the Official #1 and #2 movie trailers for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey due to Peter Jackson. It is no secret that Jackson co-wrote and directed the best-selling films in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. There is also no denying the popularity of these films, and the incredibly devoted fan base to Jackson and J. R. R. Tolkien that arose from them. Jacksons ethos, or credibility, is referred to time and time again throughout these trailers for The Hobbit. The placement of the message in the trailers, reading From Peter JacksonThe Director of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy only further motivates the audience for the upcoming film. The mention of the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy reminds the audience of Jacksons name, his success with his past work, and his style in filmmaking. For hardcore Lord of the Rings fans, just seeing that name on the screen is enough to send chills down their spines and adrenaline pulsing throughout their bodies. This is an example of a very powerful credibility factor to influence the audience in a positive way. In addition, even if the words that remind the audience who Peter Jackson is arent enough to cause these kinds of reactions, the fact that in the trailers they are placed upon the well-recognized map of Middle Earth, which is a symbol of The Lord of the Rings in and of itself will certainly do the trick. The reminder that the upcoming movie The Hobbit is an extension of the series over which audiences across the world grieved the ending is enough to

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make devoted fans completely disregard the possibility that the movies could be even slightly disappointing. Moving in a slightly inverse direction, we could also consider the returning actors in the film to have some credibility that the audience would look for. Particularly with the character of Gandalf the Grey, who is perhaps one of the most beloved Lord of the Rings characters from the previous films. The credibility of Ian McKellen as a very widely known actor in many exceptional movies also contributes to the trailers effectiveness as a whole, as many people would be willing to pay to see the movie simply because they are Ian McKellen fans. The main point here is that the ethos of both Peter Jackson and Ian McKellen, based on their reputations in their respective fields, give them a credible appeal to the audience through the trailers for The Hobbit movie. In displaying these names in the trailers, the audience will become more persuaded to pay to see the film and appreciate their work, proving them to be effective rhetors. As Aristotle would say, It is clear, further, that [rhetorics] function is not simply to succeed in persuading, but rather to discover the means of coming as near such success as the circumstances of each particular case allow. Marshall McLuhan believed that in rhetoric, the medium determines how perceptions are formed. He said that media alter the environment, which in turn causes different balances between sense perceptions. In other words, the medium is the message. In McLuhans mind, essentially every new medium is like a brand new language that has a major impact on the message or messages that it carries. It determines the way that the audience perceives the messages, and how those messages are delivered. Therefore, it changes the way that the audience is convinced of this message.

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The medium of film in this case with the trailers for The Hobbit is an interesting concept to consider. The Lord of the Rings series was, of course, initially a trilogy of books written by J. R. R. Tolkien. The books had gained their own fan base and their own select audience that was mainly limited to people who enjoyed reading, and reading fantasy books at that. When Peter Jackson made these books into a film series, an entirely new audience was formed. The audience was no longer limited to reading the books, but could now actually see the intricate story come to life before their eyes. However, the movies did change the original story by Tolkien, significantly in some ways. The new movie of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is no exception to that fact. The original book that the film was based on was a childrens book. Therefore, the language was much simpler, the storyline much less intricate and complicated. It was also related to the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings very slightly. The film created by Peter Jackson altered this storyline very significantly, as was demanded by the medium through which it was presented. I say it was demanded by the medium for of this reason: Peter Jacksons audience from The Lord of the Rings movies consisted of older members, ones that were accepting of the violence, cruelty, and gore being shown throughout the series. The Hobbit is no different. Considering that sort of audience, how many people with that kind of taste in films would want to watch a childrens story turned into a real-life story? The violence and gore would be almost completely absent from the film, and what little of it did remain would be severely disappointing due to the young target audience. McLuhans concept of the medium being the message brings to light the effectiveness of the rhetoric that is evident in the trailers for this movie. Delving even deeper into this theory, that is, aside from the content of the film itself, we can consider the moments that Peter Jackson

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chose to be shown in the trailers. In order to prove that the new film would still be appropriate for the audiences of The Lord of the Rings films, instead of dialing down the content to accommodate a younger audience, Jackson had to show some of the most action-packed scenes in the trailers. This would ensure that the audience would get the message that it was still the familiar style of Peter Jacksons intricate and rousing filmmaking, filled with the same familiar characters that we know and love, and a few new characters to tell an entirely new story. Keeping to Jacksons message that the new film will still be a success, the official trailer #1 also features the more sentimental, suspenseful aspect of the film, which is the singing of the dwarves. They sing a slow, a capella, dirge-like song that is reminiscent of Tolkiens characters in the dwarves in the book, and they sing the same words that are so popular in the songs that are sung by the dwarves in the book. The aspect of actually being able to transfer Tolkiens lyrics of the dwarvish songs into a legitimate song to be heard by the audience, rather than just poetic lyrics on a page with a description that lets us know that they are supposed to be words to a song, further enhances both Jacksons and Tolkiens message that it will be an epic plot, riddled with suspense and emotion. This transfer between the medium of the printed books and the on-screen film allows for more of an emotional response from the audience, as there is no denying that music is capable of doing. It also alters the message to mean more than just an enjoyable childrens tale. The film medium allows the audience to experience the story in a more interactive way, one that allows them to feel the emotions that the characters feel, hear the sounds that the characters feel, and see the great story of The Hobbit come to life in picture format. In these trailers, the medium is indeed the message. The trailers effectively shift the focus of the simple childrens tale into a more complex storyline with some newly added features and characters that

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can only enhance the success of the films themselves, rendering Jacksons decision to make The Hobbit into a film a rhetorically successful one. In this case, McLuhan has been proven incorrect in his idea that altering the medium into a technological one hinders Tolkiens original message. It is clear that in more ways than not, that alteration has improved the rhetorical effectiveness and kept the original message, with a few twists of interest. Kenneth Burke claimed that you persuade a man only insofar as you can talk his language by speech, gesture, tonality, order, image, attitude, idea, identifying your ways with his. He believed that in rhetoric, the only way to be persuaded by a message was to identify with the speaker. In his work, A Rhetoric of Motives, he stated that in pure identification there would be no strife. Likewise, there would be no strife in absolute separatenessbut put identification and division ambiguously together, so that you cannot know for certain just where one ends and the other begins, and you have the characteristic invitation to rhetoric. Burke also writes about terministic screens, which he says are rhetorical because they reflect, select, and deflect. They reflect the reality that we believe or imagine exists. They select by focusing on that part of the reality that interests us, and they deflect by ignoring or minimizing the part of reality that does not interest us. So, terministic screens are rather like filters in this way. Identification is evident in the trailers for The Hobbit movie in that the audience members can easily relate to and identify with the characters. Burke said that we identify with those with whom we share traits. In this case, the audience members are able to identify with the characters of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as well as with Peter Jackson for making them into relatable characters. True Lord of the Rings fans, when watching the films or reading the books, will mentally place themselves in the story as a character themselves. Peter Jackson creates an

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identifiable world for the audience by allowing them to project an image onto the characters with whom they admire. By identifying with these characters, Jacksons rhetoric through these trailers is made ever more effective, and by bringing back such relatable and identifiable characters as Gandalf the Grey, Galadriel, and Smeagol, he allows the audience to symbolically seek the object of their lost love through ideation. In the case of Smeagol, it is a different situation because in the trailers he is portrayed almost as if he is a cute animalistic creature, whom the audience can feel pity for and therefore relate to. Thus, Burkes concept of identification and persuasion are demonstrated through these trailers. As far as his concept of terministic screens, this theory is present in the trailers through their reflection, selection, and deflection of the information or scenes that are shown in them. As I was watching the trailers, one thing that I noticed is that, despite the presentation of the ethos as mentioned above, I realized that I was watching these trailers through a terministic screen. As the words, for example, From the Director of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, flashed across the screen, I realized that I was looking straight through them, only looking for and paying attention to the words and music that I was listening to from the characters in the scenes that I couldnt even see. This is an example of a terministic screen because it was reflecting the reality of the story of the dwarves and the hobbit that I longed to see more of, I was selecting the part of the reality that interested me (which was the flashes of the scenes and music that I was intent on catching every detail of), and it deflected the part of the trailer that I had no interest in, which was the words in the trailer that didnt provide me with a mental image with which to identify and relate to. Thus, our terminologies are rhetorical because they reflect, select and deflect our views of the world and, thus, how we act within it. And also in how we are persuaded by the messages present within these film trailers.

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In conclusion, there are multiple rhetorical strategies that are employed through the presentation of the official #1 and #2 trailers for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Aristotles concept of ethos is evident through Peter Jacksons credibility, as well as the credibility of the familiar actors and actresses that are present in the characters that they portray. McLuhans concept of the medium as the message is strongly demonstrated through the transfer from the printed book format to the on-screen imagery in the way that it changes the message of the trailers to be more about audience involvement and focuses more on the characters and their background story lines. Burkes theories of identification and terministic screens are shown through the audiences identification with the characters in the trailers as well as with Peter Jackson and the terministic screens through which audience members view the trailers and are persuaded to pay to see the film in theaters. Through these concepts, and even lenses, we can understand the rhetorical effectiveness for the trailers of The Hobbit, and apply rhetorical strategies from both ancient and recent theorists to what we do today on an everyday basis.

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Works Cited Aristotle. Rhetoric. Ed. Lee Honeycutt. Trans. W. Rhys Roberts. 2011. Web. 24 April 2013. < http://rhetoric.eserver.org/aristotle/index.html>.

Burke, Kenneth. Definition of Man. Language As Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method. Berkley: University of California Press, 1966. 3-24. Print.

---. Terministic Screens. Language As Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method. Berkley: University of California Press, 1966. 44-62. Print.

McLuhan, Marshal. The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man. 1962. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008. Print.

Smith, Craig R. Rhetoric and Human Consciousness: A History. Long Grove: Waveland Press, 2009. Print.